Chained
by Crimson0Autumn
Summary: L suspects Light of being Kira and, unconvinced of the Death Note's rules that should prove his innocence, chains the boy to himself to keep him under surveillance. When memories that he eventually expects Light to remember don't return, will L be forced to admit that he was wrong? Or is it just another of Kira's acts to outsmart him?


_Title:_ Chained

_Summary:_ L suspects Light of being Kira and, unconvinced of the Death Note's rules that should prove his innocence, chains the boy to himself to keep him under surveillance. When memories that he eventually expects Light to remember don't return, will L be forced to admit that he was wrong? Or is it just another of Kira's acts to outsmart him?

_Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, or any of the characters used in this story. But like most fangirls, I wish that I did :)_

* * *

**Troubled Sleep**

"Is this really necessary?"

"Yes," L replied, snapping the handcuff onto Light's wrist. "I will be keeping Light-kun under surveillance seeing as there is no clear evidence to disprove that he is Kira."

"But," Matsuda protested lightly, rubbing the back of his head, "isn't this going a bit too far? I mean, there's no way that Light could be Kira after he was placed in solitary confinement."

Light folded his arms, the metal cuff digging unfamiliarly into his muscle.

"No, it's fine. If this can disprove that I'm Kira and clear my name, then I'm willing to go through with this."

"It's not like you have much of a choice," L mumbled, smirking slightly. "I am the head of this investigation and you are only a suspect, after all."

"But - Light's been helping us!"

"Matsuda's right," Aizawa agreed, temper already starting to flare as L crouched back onto his chair, "don't you have any respect for basic human rights?"

"I already said it's fine-"

"Chief, you must have some kind of protest to this!"

Soichiro cleared his throat and shook his head. "No Matsuda. I understand Ryuzaki's decision. Although I'll admit that I'm not completely happy with the situation, that doesn't mean that I will protest against it. I trust in L's judgement of using this precaution, however I am also confident in Light's innocence."

"Thank you, Yagami-san."

"Thanks dad..."

He cleared his throat again.

"Yes, well. I'll just have to think of a reason, explaining why you won't be home."

"You could say that I'm at a maths camp, tell mum that I forgot to tell her about it."

"...I suppose that will have to do."

L licked a doughnut, seeming to ignore the rest of them already.

Aizawa rolled his eyes before he went back to his desk, shuffling papers and muttering under his breath while Matsuda stared at the Chief who looked hard at Light before he turned, and carried on with his work too.

"Hey Light," Matsuda said, hesitating before he rested a hand on his shoulder.

"I believe that you're innocent too."

Light glanced up at him, and smiled.

"Thanks Matsuda."

"Uh, that is," Matsuda continued, aware of the pointed glare that he was getting from L, "I'm not meaning to undermine you or anything, Ryuzaki. I know that you've never lost a case, but maybe there's another theory that you'll come up with to prove Light's innocence after all."

L nodded blandly, but it lacked any sense of conviction.

"Yes."

Matsuda walked away.

"I'm sorry that I have to suspect you, Light." L murmured quietly, and Light glanced at him side-long.

"As I said, if it's to clear my name-"

"No," the detective stated, "I really am sorry."

Light shrugged it off, like being chained to another human being 24/7 was no big deal.

"I said it's fine."

* * *

"Man," Matsuda exclaimed, stretching. "I'm beat."

"I've got a headache again." Aizawa stated, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Let's call it a day."

"More like a day and a half. It's already ten."

Aizawa sighed. "I told Eriko that I'd be home early..."

"That sucks. Sounds like somebody's going to be in trouble."

"I'm calling it a day too." Mogi said tiredly. "Chief?"

"Yes...I should be going home as well."

Light turned in his seat, watching as all their computer screens turned off in synchronicity.

"I'll see you tomorrow, dad?"

Soichiro nodded, feeling a pang at having to leave his son behind and mostly because that the detective Light was chained to believed that he was a serial killer.

"Tomorrow," he assured, "See you tomorrow morning, Ryuzaki."

"See you tomorrow, Yagami-san."

The task force left the building. The sound of shuffling feet, papers and other background noises disappearing with them.

If it was possible, Light thought that the main investigation room had suddenly turned colder.

It was now just him and L.

The man who was convinced that he was a murderer.

Would L say anything? Jump on this opportunity now that they were alone?

Were there a series of tests to follow?

Light sat in the silence uncomfortably, continuing to detail the patterns of Kira's killings, and slowly working towards piecing together the clues.

The clues that seemed stale and over-turned in his mind. Was L just even placing him under surveillance because he was just too afraid to admit that he wasn't getting anywhere with the case?

Light realised that he had stopped typing - too late, before L had.

The detective caught Light staring at him, and raised an eyebrow mildly.

"Is something wrong?"

Light sighed.

"It's nothing."

He turned back around.

A part of him was actually feeling nervous about this.

"Is there a time when you usually go to sleep?"

"...I try to be in bed by midnight."

"Then we'll stop working at eleven."

* * *

To be honest, Light hadn't expected the courtesy of L even asking when he wanted to go to sleep. He assumed by the dark circles underneath L's eyes and the lethargic tone of his voice that he didn't sleep that much himself.

It wouldn't have surprised him if he were made to stay awake until morning with maybe a couple, or a few hours best, of sleep, but Light was in the shower by 11:15 (which was awkward in itself, undressing even though L had politely looked away) and was tucked underneath the covers of the unfamiliar bed by 11:35.

The blinds hadn't been closed, so the lights of the city were prominent in the distance and filtered up softly from below.

Like Light had suspected, L didn't sleep.

He had pulled out several books, a lap top, and a bag of candy from somewhere around the bed and his face and it all was illuminated by the laptop's screen as he continued to work.

The unfamiliar setting, and the light's were enough to keep Light awake for at least half an hour before he finally felt his body relaxing and being tugged into sleep.

"Why do you think Kira kills, Light-kun?" L asked suddenly, breaking the silence and pulling Light back to being fully aware and awake.

The boy rolled over tiredly.

"Huh?"

"Do you think that he really sees himself as a god and punishes criminals because he thinks himself worthy of doing so?"

Light brought a hand up to rub at his eyelids.

"It seems that way,"

"If you were Kira-"

"Ryuzaki, I'm _not_ Kira."

"But if you were," L continued, gaze fixed on him intently in the dim light, "would you go so far as to kill your own father? The task force? The people that you love?"

"...Would _you_?"

"I am not the one under suspicion, Light."

Light immediately noticed the drop in honorifics. The low and jagged tone that L had adopted.

He propped himself up onto his elbows, looking L in the eye.

"No." He stated evenly. "Now let me get some sleep."

He landed back down onto the bed, and closed his eyes.

Then, the pattering of fingertips against the keyboard started to sound...

Light grimaced.

The sound of hard candy being rolled around in the detectives mouth...

"Ryuzaki..."

"Yes Light-kun?"

_Back to 'kun' now, are we?_

"I can't sleep when you're making so much noise."

"Oh...my apologies."

But the noise didn't stop.

Light gritted his teeth and rolled over.

He really had just gotten his hopes up about L being considerate before. It seemed it was all just an act that was going to suit the detective at his own convenience, he realised, and there was no way that being chained to L wasn't going to slowly drive him insane.

"I'm sorry Light-kun," L stated then, and there was a shuffle and a sharp tug on the chain.

"But you'll have to get up. I'm craving shortcake."

Light groaned.

* * *

Light leaned against the bench, waiting as L rifled through the various cake boxes in the fridge until finally he pulled one out and opened it. Then, after meeting his approval, placed it on the counter.

"Would Light-kun like some?"

He's got to be joking, Light thought.

"No thanks Ryuzaki. I usually don't eat cake at around midnight."

"Really, why not?"

Light let out an irritated sigh.

"Because I want to actually fall asleep at a time before I should be waking up in the morning."

L turned to him, eyes suddenly wide.

"And what time _do _you wake up?"

"Usually around seven."

The detective gave him a look that said: that late?

Light bit his tongue, instead of rolling his eyes at the reaction like that wasn't a normal answer from a normal functioning human being.

"Is this why you eat so much sugar?" Light asked in retaliation. "So that you don't have to sleep?"

"It's because I can't sleep." L dead-panned, turning around to his cake once more and cutting off a huge slice.

Then, he tilted his head, adding two more onto the small plate.

It made Light's stomach churn just looking at it.

He had seen L eat sweets plenty of times before, but he had always just assumed that he must have at least ate _something_ more nutritional once they were gone. A fruit salad, at the least.

"We can go back now." L stated, walking out and causing the chain to pull taught so that Light had no choice but to follow him.

* * *

When Light was under the covers once more, he hoped that L wouldn't disturb him for anything else.

The detective was sitting contently with his cake. His laptop. His candy. And his books.

He didn't ask any more questions about Kira.

In fact, after L had booted his computer up for another ten minutes, he had turned it off and sat in silence with only the dull _clink_ of the fork hitting the plate which he was eating his cake off sounding every now and then.

But Light had an off feeling, like he was being stared at in the dark.

With his body positioned so that he was facing the window, he didn't feel like turning around just to see if he would be met with the other man's grey, scrutinising eyes.

L was probably crouching there, Light thought, calculating percentages and analysing information in his head all linking him back to being Kira.

Maybe the insomniac detective was just even crouching there, waiting for him to fall asleep in case Light happened to mumble something incriminating during a dream.

In any case, L wasn't just simply doing nothing to pass the time.

Light buried his face deeper into his pillow irritably, trying to ignore the feeling. If he was still going to be a useful component to the investigation, then he knew that he needed to at least get some sleep.

Being chained to L was definitely going to be annoying, but it was to prove his name. He'd have to put up with it as much as he could. Persevere with the odd detective and his habits until they caught Kira...

* * *

x

_Author's note:_

_Thank you for reading the first chapter :) I hope that you enjoyed it. I love writing innocent!Light... but will he stay that way :O? Guess you'll have to read on to see! Although there wasn't a lot of it in this one, I'm planning on writing a lot more tension (of all kinds :P) between L and Light in the following chapters, and be warned that the rating may eventually go up to M (but that won't be until quite a bit later if it does) so don't read unless you really love the pairing of L and Light! Please leave a review if you have any advice or ideas or criticism, and I shall 'see' you in the next chapter! :) Thank you and bye :) _

_CrimsonAutumn  
_


End file.
